Bennington Lake

Six of us walked the lake this morning.  The Wilson's plover was still present.  Its two favorite spots were near the boat ramp and in the far southeast corner of the lake.  It's amazing to watch this little bird that is SO far away from home.  Thanks again to Mike and MerryLynn for finding this very rare bird.  Migrants seen today were a Townsend's warbler, a clay-colored sparrow and an olive-sided flycatcher.  There was a secretive warbler on the south end of the lake that refused to come out where we could see it, but is was nice to speculate on what "rarity" it could be.  Next week we will return to our 8:00 walking time.  Come out and join us – who knows what migrants might show up!

Ginger

Wilson's plover

Mike and MerryLynn Denny found a Wilson's plover at Bennington Lake this morning.  As far as they know, it is the first time the species has ever been seen in Washington State. It was along the canal with several other shorebirds including two short-billed dowitchers. Several of us went out and got to watch this very rare visitor. Wow!

Shorebirds at Bennington Lake

We're beginning to get some mud at the lake and it really paid off today.  We had nine species of shorebirds: semi-palmated plover, killdeer, Wilson's snipe, red-necked phalarope, western sandpiper, least sandpiper, semi-palmated sandpiper, spotted sandpiper, Baird's sandpiper.  Not bad!  While looking at the shorebirds we heard a red-naped sapsucker drumming behind us.  We weren't able to locate it, but this is the time of year they might be found in the trees below the parking lot.  There were still lots of western wood-peewees and a few yellow warblers.  An olive-sided flycatcher and two Wilson's warblers were nice, and it's always nice to see the great horned owls (we saw two today).  Two of the group saw a Brewer's sparrow and MerryLynn heard a lesser goldfinch.  The temperatures were moderate and there was a pleasant breeze so all in all it was a great walk.  We saw or heard 50 species.  Ginger